Perspectives on Safety
Our Perspectives on Safety section features expert viewpoints on current themes in patient safety, including interviews and written essays published monthly. Annual Perspectives highlight vital and emerging patient safety topics.
Interview
In Conversation with...Eric Coleman, MD, MPH
Improving Transitions in Care, December 2007
Eric A. Coleman, MD, MPH, is Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado. Trained in both geriatrics and health services research, Dr. Coleman has emerged as one of the world's leading authorities on issues surrounding transitions of care, particularly between acute and postacute settings. His care model, the Care Transitions Intervention, is being adopted by leading health care organizations around the country. The Intervention has been associated with significant decreases in rehospitalization rates.
Perspective
The PeaceHealth Governance Journey in Support of Quality and Safety
with commentary by John L. Haughom, MD, The Board's Role in Patient Safety, July-August 2007
In recent years, the case for improving the quality and safety of care has become irrefutable. Over the next few years, failure to act will likely have far-reaching consequences for hospitals and health systems including loss of market share, increased liability, a demoralized workforce, and a sharp rise in fear and distrust among patients who lack confidence in the ability of their provider to deliver safe care...
Interview
In Conversation with...Diane Rydrych, MA
State Error Reporting Systems, June 2007
Diane Rydrych, MA, is Assistant Director of the Division of Health Policy at the Minnesota Department of Health, where she oversees their successful and influential adverse health events reporting system. We asked her to speak with us about the Minnesota initiative and some of the broader lessons for state error reporting systems.
Perspective
What Can the Rest of the Health Care System Learn from the VA's Quality and Safety Transformation?
with commentary by Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH, The Transformation of Patient Safety at the VA, September 2006
Five years after the landmark Crossing the Quality Chasm report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the quality and safety of health care in the United States remains far from ideal.(1) It is easy to feel pessimistic. Can health care organizations really...